For much of the past two decades, the proper method for teaching children to read and write was under the divergent influences of two powerful schools of thought, embroiling educators in the so-called "reading wars."

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the population segment of U.S. 16- through 24-year-olds who were not enrolled in school, or who did not have a high school diploma or a General Educational Development credential was about 11 percent in 2001. The economic value attached to completion of ever-greater levels of education has been well documented (e.g., U.S. Census Bureau, 2002).

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the population segment of U.S. 16- through 24-year-olds who were not enrolled in school, or who did not have a high school diploma or a General Educational Development credential was about 11 percent in 2001. The economic value attached to completion of ever-greater levels of education has been well documented (e.g., U.S. Census Bureau, 2002).

Early in the education technology boom, “distance learning” generally described courses for college students, and later high school students, in which the lecture was delivered through a classroom television set via satellite.

Comprehensive school reform, or CSR, is among the waves of improvement efforts that radiated from the 1983 report A Nation at Risk, a landmark indictment of U.S. public schools. CSR focuses on improvements schoolwide, encompassing everything from curriculum to school management. According to the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, as many as 5,453 schools are receiving federal funds this year to implemented reform models.